Monday, November 19, 2012

I have not perished from the Earth. I am alive and kicking, but so tired you can't even imagine.I told you that I my doctor told me to take some extra iron to combat some anemia I was diagnosed with. So, like a good little girl, I've been taking my extra iron.It's not working. I'm exhausted. All. The. Time. I'm choosing sleep over food. I'm sleeping through the Hallmark Channel's holiday movies. I haven't sassed my husband in like, 12 hours.IT'S GETTING SERIOUS OVER HERE, PEOPLE.I have all these supplies for Thanksgiving projects that I was supposed to be doing and posting about but they're just sitting in the bag, looking pitiful. If I don't get some energy soon, someone is going to have to chew my Thanksgiving turkey for me.There is a good side to being in bed non-stop: I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year and I'm really liking the story I'm writing. I should be able to finish my novel on time, so at least I can say that the month of November was spent writing the great American novel and not sleeping until I wake up and then sleeping some more.And now, I need a nap. Thanks to all of you who were checking up on me, you guys are awesome-sauce.

Friday, November 9, 2012

So, I know that you have conflicted feelings about Thanksgiving. You can't wait for the family and food and fun, but there is one thing you're struggling with.That over-achieving sister/cousin/aunt that you know just walks around your house looking for something to criticize you for. That lady's got issues.This year, we're not going to let her get to us. We're going to make our own lovely fall placemats for her to eat crow off of.You'll need two fabrics, one for the top of your placemat and one for the bottom.

You'll also need some mid-weight interfacing, about 2 yards for four placemats. This stuff is about $2 a yard, so you're still pretty thrifty here. Cut your fabric to the size you want your placemat, plus seam allowance. I cut my fabric to 17" x 22", but you do what you feel is a good size. I totally trust you on this one.

Stack your fabrics like so: top fabric and bottom fabric, right sides facing, and the interfacing on the bottom.

Pin it up.

And sew up the outsides, leaving a hole for turning the whole works inside out.

I trimmed up my edges before flipping inside out, but that's optional. If you do, leave the fabric near the hole un-trimmed for the final sewing.

Turn it inside out and iron it. It's starting to look like a placemat, which is lucky since that's the look we're going for.

For the final step, sew around the edges again, with whatever seam allowance you like. I used 3/8" 'cause I'm a rebel like that.

And it was done. Kaboom.

That know-it-all relative hasn't ever made her own placemats, has she? That means you're better.That turkey is gonna taste so good this year.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Hello, my sweet bloggy friends. I took a little sabbatical after Halloween... it was not entirely voluntary. I suffered a bout of anemia that left me literally exhausted in bed for days. I have no idea where that anemia came from. Apparently, there is no iron in a diet consisting solely of Halloween candy and hot glue fumes. Which is a shame. Anyhoo, I'm back and I made an infinity scarf.

I love this thing.So, I saw all these people wearing these 'infinity scarves' and I just loved them. And I thought it would be the perfect project for November, since it's getting frosty outside. So I went to the fabric store and found some fun flannel. Yes, flannel can be fun, if you have no other excitement in your life that is.

See? Fun!I got two yards for this scarf, which is plenty. I cut the flannel into a strip 18" wide by two yards long. Once that was done, I pinned up the long end, right sides together.

Next, I sewed up the long end. I love sewing straight lines. Use whatever seam allowance you like because you're awesome and know what you're doing.

Once that was done, I turned it right side out. Now most people would stitch up part of the ends before flipping but I hate having to pull fabric through tiny holes. Since this is an infinity scarf, having a seam would not be such a big deal. I pulled it right-side-out and sewed the ends together. This whole thing took about 30 minutes.

I made a scarf! And it's infinity! Infinity times infinity, even! Oh, that fall were all year round so I could make a hundred of these. :)